Macroautophagy in immunity and tolerance

Abstract

Autophagy and proteasomal degradation constitute the two main catabolic pathways in cells. While the proteasome degrades primarily short-lived soluble proteins, macroautophagy, the main constitutive autophagic pathway, delivers cell organelles and protein aggregates for lysosomal degradation. Both the proteasome and macroautophagy are attractive effector mechanisms for the immune system because they can be used to degrade foreign substances, including pathogenic proteins, within cells. Therefore, both innate and adaptive immune respon Show more